


Sweater Weather

by banjkazfan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Cutesy, Family Feels, Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Holidays, Most other characters are background, Snow, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, seriously that's the entire premise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5531024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banjkazfan/pseuds/banjkazfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk tries to help the skeleton brothers adjust to life outside of Snowdin, culminating in their first winter.  Sans picks out the "perfect" gift for his brother.  And nobody really knows how to tell Papyrus that he's supposed to enjoy these things ironically.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweater Weather

**Author's Note:**

> Super quick fic for Christmas feels.
> 
> Happy holidays to everyone - thanks for taking the time to read!

Familiarity is a funny thing. 

It draws you back to places you claimed you’d never see again, to people that you wish you could say goodbye to, and to things that shouldn’t still want to do.

It surprised Frisk when they had caught Papyrus staring wistfully out the window past the blinking Christmas lights that permanently adorned the house.  When Frisk had tugged on his cape, asking what was wrong, Papyrus had quickly shaken it off.

“Do not worry, tiny human!” Papyrus declared with a gentle pat to their head.  “I am just remembering our former home.  Though dark and often cold, there was a warmness to it – a sort of festivity, if you will!”  Frisk didn’t miss the tiniest of sighs that escaped Papyrus.  “But it is nothing to dwell on.  Aboveground, there is so much more to see and explore!”

As the calendar rolled into December, Frisk began to wonder what could be done to help.

…

When Frisk opened their eyes, they could tell.  Call it an instinct.  Call it a lucky guess.  But they knew.

There was _snow_.  And by the looks of it, there was a ton of it, too (“a skele-ton”, Sans’ voice unhelpfully offered in their head).  The pure, untouched white landscape caught their eye and they were utterly fascinated by the glimmer of the fresh snow against the grey winter sky.

Excitedly Frisk had bundled up, barely stopping to hear Toriel’s admonishment to take a scarf, and had hurried over to Sans and Papyrus’ home.

“Sans, Papyrus,” they had squeaked as soon as the door was opened.  “Come look at the snow!  It’s finally winter!”

Papyrus, fearing the worst due to the darkening sky – Snowdin had been constantly dark, so the changing sky was still new to him – had been harder to coax to the door.  It was only the insistence of Frisk, quivering with so much anticipation that Sans half-wondered if the kid would vibrate out of the visible light spectrum, that finally brought him to the doorstep.

Papyrus watched in wonder as Frisk danced on their welcome mat before turning and dashing through the piles of snow, giggling wildly as their little legs carried them across the yard.

Sans ambled to the door slowly, chuckling as he watched Frisk trash the pristine snow.  Nearly everything in sight was buried under the blanket of snow, including the fire hydrant by the sidewalk (and wouldn’t Lesser Dog have a _fit_ about that).  “winter, huh?” he clarified, raising his voice to be heard over Frisk’s laughter.  “in snowdin, we call that ‘tuesday’.”

Nonetheless, there was warmth to both brothers that Frisk hadn’t previously seen, and they knew that it had helped.

…

Frisk’s small, gloved hand closed around Sans’ as they pulled him through the streets, a wide grin dancing across their face as the glittering lights reflected and winked at them.  They turned back to try and catch their friend’s eye and felt pleased to see that Sans seemed as intrigued in the display of lights as they were.

Frisk gave his bony fingers a small squeeze.  When Papyrus had mentioned a few days ago that he was feeling a touch homesick, they had known that taking the skeleton brothers to see the Christmas lights would be a way to let them have a little bit of New Home in their lives.  Papyrus had, predictably, dashed ahead to look at the more grandiose displays of lights, leaving Frisk to follow Sans’ pace.  Not that Frisk minded – they were a little tired after their romp in the snow earlier, culminating in the frantic snowball fight that had drawn half the neighborhood out to play.

Frisk slowed down, still holding Sans’ hand in their gloved one.  They smiled, fascinated by the way the multi-colored lights reflected against the white of their friend’s skull.  It was a nice look, they thought.

Though Sans never minded trying to keep up with the kid, he was thankful when Frisk slowed down to walk beside him.  It was nice to just enjoy the moment, and Frisk seemed to understand.  He reached down to tousle their hair with a smile.

“so your traditions are a lot like ours,” he mused as Frisk slowed down a little more to watch a mechanical reindeer in someone’s front yard.  Frisk nodded in reply, quickly becoming bored of the repetitive movements of the display.

“We decorate, we exchange presents, and we do fun things in the snow,” Frisk listed off.  They giggled as Sans reached over to poke at their cheeks with a ferocious grin.

“Think we’ve already done that last one, kiddo,” he chuckled.  Frisk made a noise of protest and batted lightly at his hand.

“But I got the snow in your hoodie!” they reminded him. 

(It had been a surprising moment when Sans realized that he had been assaulted in the way only a child could.  Frisk was his height, and he should have _really_ seen it coming, but he had been utterly clueless.  The only hint he got was the childish giggle of delight before Frisk had yanked his hood, filled to the brim with snow, over his head.

The look on the child’s face when he had used just enough magic to send them flying into the nearest pile of snow had been _priceless_.)

 “Actually,” Frisk finally admitted, “I was hoping you would help me pick out Christmas presents for everyone.”  They squirmed nervously.  “I wanted to pick some really good stuff, since it’s everyone’s first Christmas on the surface.”

Sans was both surprised and warmed by the kid’s confession.  He’d always known that Frisk was a selfless kid, but seeing how hard they were trying to make this transition from the Underground to the surface smooth for everyone made him feel fuzzy.  He couldn’t stop himself from raising a hand to ruffle their hair.

“sure, kid,” he said.  “anything you have in mind?”

Frisk took his hand and chatted the entire way to their destination, exchanging ideas with their friend happily as they walked.  He was always fascinated by the feeling of Frisk’s fingers curled around his own – when it came down to it their hands were structurally similar but the epidermal layer between them made it an unusual feeling.  Despite this, it never bothered either of them. 

The kid’s hands were _freezing_.  Frisk had enough sense to wear gloves when it was cold, but when holding the hands of their friends they preferred to go without the extra layer between them.  He was curious as to why, but Frisk had never really given him a solid answer.

The way that Frisk often curled closer to him and Papyrus as they dozed off while crashing on their couch led him to believe the kid just wanted some physical affection.

He was momentarily distracted when Frisk pulled him into a nearby clothing store.  “Most of the monsters aren’t used to the changing seasons yet,” Frisk noted.  “I thought maybe we could get them some winter clothes.

“not a bad idea,” Sans mused.  His eyes were already darting around to the variety of colors and fabrics, wondering how it was possible for so much variety to be available in one place.  None of the shops belowground had ever been so large, so he was startled when Frisk admitted that this was one of the smaller human shops.

This was really, really too overwhelming for him.

Frisk gently squeezed Sans’ hand.  They felt bad having asked him to come out and help, but Frisk really was hoping for his input.  They were about to offer that it didn’t matter, and that they’d come back another time and do it, but something else on a nearby table caught Sans’ eye.

Frisk could barely contain their giggle when they followed Sans’ gaze.  “kid…what are _those_?”

A laugh bubbled out of the child.  “Ugly Christmas sweaters,” they replied easily.  “It’s sort of a human tradition to have parties and see who has the ugliest one.”

Sans was baffled by this.  Not that such a notion could exist, but because it sounded like something _he_ would do.  In fact, he was a little perturbed that he hadn’t thought of such a thing sooner.

Then, he got an idea. 

A wonderful idea.

An awful idea.

Sans the skeleton got a wonderful, awful idea.

He chuckled, shuffling his way over to the table and sifting through the sweaters.

…

On Christmas morning, a warm atmosphere filled the house.  Gifts were exchanged, smiles were had, and one too many glasses of eggnog were drunk by Undyne.  Alphys, flushing a furious red, had tried to coax her girlfriend to _stop drinking so much eggnog, please, Undyne, it’s really not that great for you_ to no avail.  Frisk half-wondered if someone had “accidentally” slipped in the alcoholic version, but left it well enough alone when Sans grinned and pushed a box into their hands.

Frisk let out a bark of laughter when they open the present to find a whoopee cushion.  It brought back memories of the first time they had met Sans, shaking and terrified of what was to come, and being utterly caught off-guard by the nasty, wet farting noise.  Immediately the child began to plot how to get it under Sans’ seat, or perhaps tucked into their hand.  They immediately envisioned giving their friend a hearty slap on the back and hearing that ripping noise cut through the air and stifled a giggle behind their hands.  Sans had raised a brow curiously and Frisk had only responded with a devious grin and a warm hug.

Across the room, Papyrus was positively shining.  His eyes glittered with a familiarity that Frisk hadn’t seen nearly as much of since everyone had moved to the surface.  It made the child happy to know that their friend was pleased and warmed by the celebrations.

Sans disentangled himself from Frisk’s arms and made his way to his brother’s side.  A grin crossed his face as he handed a wrapped box to the taller skeleton.  “hey, bro,” he said.  “got you a little somethin’.”  He pressed the box into Papyrus’ hands and chuckled as his brother let out a squeal.

“Sans!  How thoughtful of you!” Papyrus declared happily, gently tearing open the wrapping with the greatest of care.  Sans was tempted to tell Papyrus to just rip the paper, but he knew that his younger brother would instead open it _even more slowly_  just to get under his skin (well, so to speak, of course).  He sighed and waited it out instead.

When Papyrus had finally neatly folded the wrapping paper back into a perfect little square and popped open the box, Sans was reaching Temmie-like levels of excitement.  An unreadable look crossed Papyrus’ face as he removed a sweater from the box, holding it up and looking it over.

It was long and a deep, pine green color.  Colorful strands of garland hung across it diagonally to give the impression that the wearer was decorated by it.  Various glittery pom-poms were stuck everywhere as if a child had dipped them in glue and haphazardly tossed them at the sweater, hoping for the best.  Worst of all, the hem of the sweater had a sort of hoop built into it, giving the wearer the shape of a Christmas tree.

It was, without a doubt, the ugliest Christmas sweater that Sans could find at the store.  He grinned, wondering just how Papyrus would react.  Would he screech angrily, demanding to know where Sans had found such a hideous thing?  He thought of the book of pasta recipes he had tucked away for Frisk to give Papyrus, intended to take some of the ire of the sweater away.

He wasn’t anticipating his brother’s outburst of noise as skeletal arms wrapped tightly around him.  Sans’ hands came up in alarm, curling his arms around Papyrus in return.  For a moment he worried that he had actually broken Papyrus and hastily began to plan an apology in his head.

“Sans,” Papyrus choked out.  “This is the most wonderful sweater _ever_!  How did you know that it would look so grand on me?”

The entire room had gone completely silent.  Sans began to sweat, and he felt his sins crawling on his back as he patted Papyrus gently.  “hey, uh, why don’t you try it on?” he offered hesitantly, taking a step back to allow Papyrus room.

The taller skeleton jumped to his feet and hurriedly wiggled into the sweater, grinning all the while.  Frisk had their hands plastered over their mouth, desperately trying not to giggle at just how much Papyrus now resembled a very tall and skeletal Christmas tree.

“Well?” Papyrus asked, turning to show off that the garland did, indeed, wrap the entire way around the back, fighting for territory with the stray pom-poms.  “How does it look?  Do not hold back your feelings, my friends!”

Toriel was the first one to break the silence.  “Papyrus,” she crowed, “it is so flattering on you!  It makes you look so festive and merry!”  God love Toriel – Sans knew that her statement was completely genuine and she _meant_ that it looked amazing on him.

Sans, still sweating nervously, agreed, and everyone else chimed in their sincere – if hesitant – sentiments.  “yeah, bro, it’s _wooly_ amazing!”

Ah, there was the annoyed screeching.  But the indignation was forgotten as Papyrus, tears shining in his sockets, embraced his brother once more and thanked him for the most glorious of Christmas sweaters.

For many, many Christmases to come, Papyrus found himself receiving many more of what he called these absolutely amazing wooly hugs from the spirit of the season.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you want to see Papyrus' amazing sweater: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ba/2d/62/ba2d62a4e0d82029778756e672c0b224.jpg
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to read!


End file.
